Charles Schulz's family has donated a Snoopy statue to Florida's Kennedy Space Center to commemorate the 40th anniversary of a lunar module named for Schulz's character entering the moon's orbit during the Apollo 10 mission.

On May 21, 1969, the Snoopy lunar module and Charlie Brown command module arrived at the moon in a dress rehearsal for the Apollo 11 moon landing. "It went down in his life as one of the all-time highlights of his career," said Craig Schulz, son of Peanuts creator Charles Schulz, who died in 2000. NASA also named Snoopy the mascot of their safety program. Schulz designed a Silver Snoopy award pin, which remains one of the space industry's highest honors. The pin is taken on space missions, then presented to NASA employees who contribute to the safety of space flights. As for the Snoopy lunar module, it is still in space and is the only Apollo module to ever be launched into a sun orbit. [Space.com via Live Science]